Invisible, In Touch, Inside

Split the realities and you get gods, not God

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:3-7, from a reading for Trinity Sunday)

Isaiah is terrified by his encounter with God. The invisible, mysterious God is manifested to the prophet’s overwhelmed senses, and Isaiah senses his end at hand.

Isaiah has encountered God Above, the Man Upstairs, the Force, the Pure Will. All of humanity’s ways of expressing the invisible God pounce on the prophet at once.

Terror is a good response, because whatever a religion or philosophy might say about the invisible God carries risk. This could be a deity so impersonal that we’re happier with no up close contact. This could be a projection of our hopes — which could be dashed. This could be a projection of our fears — which could be true. Or this could be, as the atheists assert, a projection of our egos, now exposing our ignorance and vanity.

Yet any definition of God worth offering must admit to invisibility and mystery. We can draw inferences from our observations and experiences, but those who approach God reverently will admit that we make educated guesses when we venture to say anything about him.

God really is “up there,” Immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light inaccesible hid from our eyes…

But Isaiah is not disintegrated. God is in touch, and his touch is good news.

A flaming emissary from God’s presence taps Isaiah’s lips — the very part of his body that Isaiah had acknowledged as corrupt — and, with fire from God’s altar, the corruption is removed.

God is in touch or incarnate. God is not only hidden behind clouds, God is expressed and active on the earth. The perception is out and about in myth and religion — Zeus became a bull. Vishnu has ten avatars.

The one God revealed to Isaiah can come into the creation and touch the creatures. A God who can heal with a touch, or break and multiply loaves of bread; who can teach on the seashore and walk on the water. A God who can atone for the sins of the world by the sacrifice of his own flesh and blood.

But this is not all. God is not only above or around. God is found within.

Carl Jung spoke for many when he expessed God as, “… an inner experience, not discussable as such but impressive.” The current Deconstructionists negate concepts of God that conflict with their feelings and turn toward inner experience, You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.

Yes, it can obscure God just as much to disperse him in a billion soft, lovey bodies as to hide him behind the clouds. Yet even the disciples of Jesus said things like, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32)

The one God who became visible and touched Isaiah also transformed him from the inside out. Isaiah was terrified, but all of a sudden he was welling up with confidence and — more than that — freedom to speak with and for God,

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” And he said, “Go, and say to this people… (6:8-9a)

God invisible, God in touch, and God inside. They are all true until they are divided and asserted exclusively. The invisible God becomes an impersonal thing served by fearful submission to rules and rituals; the God in touch becomes a horde of “spiritual” beings on a spectrum from myths to charlatans; the God within becomes a dream driven by unresolved desires and emotional baggage. Split the realities and you get gods, not God.

But to say that all three are true at once — this is the holy mystery, holy doctrine, and holy experience of the The Holy Trinity. This is the Christian faith in One God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The Holy Trinity is not a tidy solution to the mystery of God, but a bold affirmation of the glory of God, who is beyond our comprehension yet so loving as to suffer for us and fill and transform us with his presence.

Nor is the Holy Trinity a universalistic affirmation of all paths leading to God. It is a scandalous declaration of one God, the mysterious God revealed to Isaiah and the chosen people of Israel; of one Lord, Jesus Christ, God-with-us as the Word made flesh; of one Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. (John 14:17)

This is the revelation of God celebrated on Trinity Sunday in particular but in Christian devotion and teaching at all times. Not the cop-outs like, “Aw shucks, you can’t preach it without getting into heresy,” or the jokes about fobbing off Trinity Sunday preaching on the assistant pastor. It is the unique Christian proclamation of God, confessing the glorious mystery while receiving the intimate embrace.